Multiple switch



Sept. 16, 1947. H. wElNl-:R 2,427,483

MULTIPLE SWITCH Filed VJuly 3. 1944 EJ/ET- Z7 lfargy knnen PatentedSept. 16, 1947 MULTIPLE SWITCH Harry Weiner, Chicago, Ill., vassigner toFlorio G.

Flosi, doing business as cago, Ill.

Allied Industries, Chi- Application July 3, 1944, Serial No. 543,346

This invention relates in general to a multiple switch and is moreparticularly described in connection with a current using device formaking a plurality of connections by which separate portions of thecurrent using device may be connected in series, in parallel, andseparately to a source of current supply.

An important object of the invention is to provide a switch for making anumber of different circuit connections by the movement of a singleoperating member.

A further object of the invention is to provide a multiple switch havingmeans for retaining the circuit closing member in a variety ofpositions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improvedswitch structure in which the circuit closing member is movable from anyone of a number of switch closing positions to any of the otherpositions.

A stili further object of the invention is in providing a multipleswitch which has a spring pressed operating member and seating groovesfor retaining the operating member in any one of the different circuitclosing positions.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a new and improvedtype of multipleI switch for closing a plurality of circuit connectionsfor domestic and industrial uses which is simple in construction andoperation, easily manufactured and set up or placed in position,inexpensive in construction, and effective and eiicient in operation.

Other and further objects of the invention will appear in thespecification and will be apparent from the accompanying drawings inwhich Fig. 1 is a plan view of a multiple switch in accordance with thisinvention;

Fig. 2 illustrates the switch with the movable contact member omittedand connected to a, two coil heating element;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the switch taken on the line 3 3 of Fig.2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the switch insulating block as taken onthe line 4--4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the under side of the switch.

Electrical switches for making a plurality of diilerent circuitconnections are used in the industrial eld for controlling purposes andfor making various electrical connections, but most of the switches forhouse or domestic uses are simple two-way switches. The presentinvention Claims. (Cl. 200-6) provides a multiple switch which may beused for I industrial and heavy duty purposes, but also is designed andintended to provide a simple and eiilcient means for making a variety ofdiierent connections for home andv household uses.

'I'he present invention is therefore described in connection with aheating coil for cooking and the like. the object being to provide highor low heat by variously connecting portions of the coil in series, inparallel, separately or in conjunction to the same source of currentsupply.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, an insulating switchblock I0 is shown as connected to or associated with an insulatingmounting base I I, but the mounting base may be oi different form orconstruction, and it may be actually dispensed with if the block issupported by some other suitable base.

The upper or outer face of the block I0 is provided with a number ofconductor grooves I2 preferably extending entirely across the block fromone side to the other and of a depth to seat therein a number ofconductors I3, I4, I5, I6 and I1.

Extending transversely of the conductor grooves at various angles andcrossing at a common center within the block are switch grooves I9, 20,2| and 22 which may be slightly less in depth than the conductor groovesI2, but sutilciently deep so that a contacter inserted therein willengage the tops of conductors I3, I4, I5, I 6, I'I and I8 in theconductor grooves.

Centrally rotatable upon a pivot 23 is a contact maker comprising aninsulating block 24 having opposite contactors 25 and 26 extending belowand outwardly from the block, the upper ends being turned over withinrecesses in the block and held in place by a fastening plate 2l toprevent the contactors from turning.

Also secured to the block and extending outwardly from the oppositesides thereof are pointers 28 and 29 which overlie the contactors 25 and26 and provide protection for the contactors.

The pivot 23 is preferably in the form of a bolt inserted through themounting base and insulating block from the bottom thereof with the headof the boit seated in a recess 30 at the under side of the base. Securedto the upper threaded end 3i or the boit is a fastening nut 32 with anunderlying washer 33 engaging one end of a coil spring 34 surroundingthe bolt and seated in a. recess formed by a shell or extension 35 ofthe block 24. If desired, the bolt may be reversed with the head at thetop and the fastening nut 32 in the bottom recess *30.

With this construction, the contact maker is r raised 'against thetension of the spring 24 to turned inwardly through the block ductor 4Iat the under side oi the base I I.

move it .out of any one of the switch grooves and to rotate it and placeit in contact with the upper surface of the insulating block I0. Thecontact maker may be rotated in either direction from any neutralposition, that is, a position in which the conductors 25 and 26 are notseated in a switch groove and the arrangement is such that the contactmaker will slip from one groove to the other as it is turned, the spring34 holding the contactors 25 and 26 in engagement with any of theconductors which happen to be located in the switch grooves.

It is thus apparent that the contact maker may be moved freely in eitherdirection as a step by step movement, or it maybe bodily grasped andraised against the spring 34 and then rotated to place it in connectionwith any of the switch grooves or with an intermediate neutral surface.

In the present arrangement, conductors I3 and I4 are located in the twooutermost conductor grooves, they extend across all of the switchgrooves and the extremities are inserted through the mounting base andlconnected to terminals 36 and 31 which are provided for the attachmentof the current supply mains. Conductor I 5 is seated in a conductorgroove adjacent the current supply conductor I3 and extends acrossswitch grooves I9, 2| and 22, but has a depressed portion 38 whichextends below the switch groove 2|! to provide no engageable contacttherein. Conductor I6 is likewise located in a conductor groove adjacentthe other supply conductor I4, and extends across switch grooves I9, 20and 2l; conductor I1 is separate from conductor I6 and extends acrossswitch groove 22; and conductor I8 extends across switch grooves I9 and20 adjacent conductor I5 and on the same side of the block as mainconductor I3.

These conductors I5, I6, I1 and I8 extend from the conductor grooves,the extremities being I and through the mounting base where they areprovided with connection terminals 38 for conductor I5, 39 for conductorI6, and 40 for conductors I1 and I8 which are joined together by a con-Since the conductors are preferably formed of relatively stiff wire, itis suillcient to bend unconnected extremities 42 thereof over againstthe bottom of the mounting base as shown more clearly in Fig. in orderto hold these conductors tightly in place. The connection terminals 38,38 and 40 may consist of screws and nuts or any other suitable fasteningand circuit connecting terminals.

To illustrate an application of this invention, it is shown in Fig. 2 asapplied to an electric heater 43 of the type having an inner heatingcoil 44 and an outer heating coil 45 seated in suitable grooves in aninsulating base. Usually the coils are connected in series or inparallel to a suitable source of current supply, and a switch isprovided for making the connections. In utilizing the present invention,the main conductors I3 and I4 are connected by conductors 46 and 41respectively with a suitable source of current supply. Conductor I5 isconnected from terminal 38 fby conductor 48 with one end of one kof theheating coils as 44, conductors I1 and I8 are connected through terminal40 by a conductor 49 with one end of the outer coil 45; 'and conductorI6 is connected through terminal 39 by a conductor 50 to the other endsof,each o! the coils 44 and 45. If the coils 44 and 45 are continuous,then the conductor 50 is connected to a suitable intermediate point.

With this construction, four diiIerent circuit closing connections maybe made in addition to the neutral or unconnected positions of thecontact maker.

When the contact maker is turned so that its contactors are seated inswitch groove I9, a connection is made from main conductor I3, contactor26, conductors I5 and 48 to one end oi coil 44 and thence through thecoil, conductor 50, switch conductor I6, contactor 25, and currentsupply conductor I4. At the same time, a circuit will be closed frommain conductor I3 through contactor 26, switch conductor I8, contactor49, coil 45 and thence through conductor 50, switch conductor I6 andcontactor 25 to the other supply conductor I4. Thus the two coils 44 and45 will be connected in parallel across the source of current supply.

With the contact maker in switch groove 20, no connection will be madewith conductor I5 which does not extend into the switch groove 20leading to one end of inner coil 44 so that it will not receive current,the outer coil 45 receiving current in the same circuit as abovedescribed.

In the next switch position engaging switch groove. 2|, a circuit isclosed from a main conductor I3 through contactor 26, conductor I5 butnot conductor I8 and from conductor I5 through conductor 48 to the oneend of coil 44 thence through conductor 50 and switch conductor I6,

contactor 25 to the other supply conductor I4.

There being no connection for one end of coil 45, no current will owthrough this coil and the inner coil 44 will be connected across thecurrent supply mains.

In the last switch groove 22, circuits are closed from the switch supplyconductor I3, contactor 26, switch conductor I5, conductor 48 to one endof inner coil 44, and since there is no engagement oi' the othercontactor 25 with conductor I6 in this switch groove, a circuit isclosed from the other end of coil 44 through the outer coll 45 andthence through conductor 49, terminal 40 and cross connector 4I toswitch conductor I1 and thence through contactor 25 with the othersupply conductor I4. This connects the two coils 44 and 45 in seriesbetween the source of current supply.

Thus it will be seen that with this relatively simple multiple switch,four diil'erent separate connections are made so that two coils or twoelectro-responsive devices may be connected ln parallel or in seriesacross the same source oi current supply, or either coil or device maybe connected separately to the exclusion oi the other across thesourceof current supply.

The number oi' diilerent connections which can be made bya switch ofthis kind can be varied as desired by changing the number of switchgrooves, and also if desired, by changing the number of conductorgrooves, Various other combinations and arrangements may be made foraccomplishing the desired and diiierent results without departing fromthe spirit and scope oi' the invention.

In the present exempliflcation oi' this invention, the contacts or polesI3 and I4 are connected directly with the main line or source of supply,and serve as power lines through the contacting switch element. Theother contacts or poles are subsidiary contacts, and are respectivelyconnected with the lead lines which serve the apparatus in connectionwith which the multiple switch is employed.

I claim:

1. A multiple switch, comprising an insulating block with spaced groovesin one face, and other grooves crossing the spaced grooves at differentangles, current supply line and circuit conductors seated inthe spacedgrooves, and a contact maker having contactors movable into the saidother grooves to make various engagements between the line conductorsand the circuit conductors depending upon the angles of the said othergrooves.

l2. A multiple switch, comprising an insulating block'having parallelsurface grooves in one face and radiating grooves across the parallelgrooves, current supply line conductors extending in some of theparallel grooves, circuit conductors extending partially across theblock in others of the parallel grooves, and a rotatable contact makerhaving contactors movable thereby into the radiating grooves to makevarious connections between the line and circuit conductors.

3. A multiple switch, comprising parallel current supply line andcircuit conductors, a rotatable spring pressed contact maker movable atdifferent angles to the conductors, contacting means carried by thecontact maker to make different connections with the line and circuitconductors depending upon the angle of the contact maker, and groovedsupporting means for holding the conductors in place and the contactingmeans in engagement therewith.

4. A multiple switch, comprising an insulating block with parallelgrooves in one direction and with radiating grooves extending across theparallel grooves, conductors mounted in the parallel grooves, a contactmaker rotatably mounted at the center of the radiating grooves,contactors extending oppositely from the contact maker for engaging inthe radiating grooves, and resilient means tending to press the contactmaker toward the block and to seat the contactors in the radiatinggrooves against the conductors in the parallel grooves,

5. A multiple switch, comprising aninusulating block with parallelgrooves in one direction l and with radiating grooves extending acrossthe parallel grooves, supply line conductors mounted in the outermostparallel grooves, other circuit conductors extending in the parallelgrooves across some of the radiating grooves, oppositely extendinglcontactors rotatably mounted at the center of the radiating grooves toengage the conductors in the parallel grooves, means for insulating thecontactors from each other, and guards attached to said insulating meansand overlying the contactors to protect them.

6. A multiple switch, comprising an insulating block and supportingbase, the outer face of the block having parallel grooves in onedirection and opposite radiating grooves extending across the parallelgrooves, current supply line and circuit conductors, seated intheparallel grooves and the ends extending through the base to the rearface thereof, some of the conductor ends being bent over against thebase to hold them in place, attachment terminals for other conductorends, two circuit conductors having a common terminal, one circuitconductor having a. depressed portion extending below its groove to th'eunder.

6 side of the block and bridging one of the radiating grooves, androtatable contactor means mounted at the center of the radiating groovesand engageable therein with conductors in the parallel grooves.

7. A multiple switch for closing parallel, series, and separateconnections, comprising a plurality of vparallel current supply line andcircuit conductors, rotatable contactor means mounted to extend atdiilerent angles across the conductors, the line conductors having twoconnection terminals, the circuit conductors having three terminals forattachment to a common terminal of two electro-responsive devices and tothe opposite ends thereof, and means for positioning the rotatablecontactor means in four positions to connect the three terminals for aseries connection, a parallel connection, and to omit a connection toeither, one of the said two opposite end terminals.

8. A multiple switch for closing parallel, series and separateconnections, comprising a plurality of current supply line and circuitconductors, a

block having parallel grooves in which the con-f ductors are mounted andhaving four radiating grooves crossing the parallel grooves, the lineconductors extending across all the radiating grooves, one of thecircuit conductors extending across three of the radiating grooves,another extending across the remaining radiating grooves, anotherextending across the iirst radiating groove only and under the secondone but crossing the third and fourth, and another extending across therst and second radiating grooves only, terminal connections for all ofsaid conductors, and rotatable-contact means at the center of theradiating grooves engageable with the conductors in the parallelgrooves.

9. A switch embodying an insulating base provided with grooves runningparallel, conductors at the bottoms of said grooves, said base alsoprovided with shallower grooves, and a rotatable contactor,saidcontactor co-cperating with said shallower grooves, whereby to makecontact with the conductors in the said parallel grooves.

10. A switch embodying an insulating'base provided with grooves runningparallel, conductors at thebottoms of said grooves, said base alsoprovided with shallower grooves disposed atangles to and crossing saidparallel grooves, and a rotatable contactor, said contactor co-operatingwith said shallower grooves, whereby to make contact with the conductorsin the said parallel g'IOOVeS.

HARRY WEINER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the me ofthis patent:

19,033 Great Britain Nov. 24, 1890

